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Penrith Panthers to play annual NRL game in Bathurst

In a boost to country rugby league the Penrith Panthers will play an annual game in Bathurst from 2014.

Getty Images: Brendan Thorne

The Penrith Panthers have agreed to play one NRL home game in Bathurst each season for the next five years.

The Panthers and Bathurst council on Friday penned a new deal to take professional rugby league to Carrington Park from 2014 until at least 2018.

Next year's match in Bathurst will be the first top-level game played in the region since the City-Country fixture in 2001.

Panthers spokesman Justin Pascoe said the decision to shift a game a season away from Penrith had not been taken lightly.

"A lot of due diligence has taken place to ensure we are doing the best thing for both the game and the community," he said.

"We are not going to emulate a copy and paste mentality as happens across other clubs and codes where we simply take a game away for commercial gain only.

"We are committing to the community of Bathurst and its surrounding communities for five years and the game itself will be a by-product of a whole raft of initiatives.

"These initiatives will focus on developing the game of rugby league in regional NSW, focusing on the development of players in Group 10 plus the development of coaches in the region through a coach the coaches program.